It was a party! On Saturday November 10, we celebrated the publication of No Castles Here at the Cheshire Public Library. When I say “we” I mean me and about 60 other people! Folks came from as far away as New Jersey and Boston to make magic origami boxes, scribble graffiti on craft paper, fill in word searches and listen to me speak. To keep with the theme, all the food was related to the book — popcorn, pumpkin pie, honey cake, a fruit platter (salad minus syrup), and cookies. The Alphabet Garden reports that it sold out all of its copies of No Castles and has had to reorder. Wow!

Here are a few photos thanks to Michael Ross.

Last week I visited beautiful New Hampshire and Vermont for my first official book signings. On Tuesday, Nov. 6, I appeared at the Dartmouth Bookstore in Hanover, New Hampshire with fellow Class of 2k7 members Sarah Aronson, Greg R. Fishbone, Carrie Jones, Jo Knowles and Heather Tomlinson. We read from each of our books and answered questions from the crowd. What fun!

Then on Wednesday, Nov. 7, the six of us reconvened at the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne Vermont where we were treated to pizza and cookies. We each received a beautiful personalized mug from Elizabeth Bluemle, fellow children’s book author, New England SCBWI member and Flying Pig owner extraordinaire!

I drove (or was driven) about 600 miles over two and a half days. Oof! Who ever said writing was a sedentary profession?